Chancellor Rachel Reeves will announce a £1.5bn package to help further drive the rollout of electric cars among drivers, reports suggest ahead of this week’s Budget.

The EV funding includes an extra £1.3bn for the Electric Car Grant scheme, which will be extended by an extra year.

The Budget is also expected to unveil an additional £200m to accelerate the rollout of charge points across the UK. The proposed funding will support the creation of thousands of charge points and provide extra resources for local authorities to ramp up charging infrastructure on local streets, adding to the £400m already committed at the Spending Review. This will help to boost charging infrastructure past the near-87,000 public charge points already available.

And the Government is expected to announce a review into the cost of public charging, which will report back by autumn next year. This will look at the impact of energy prices, including wider cost contributors, alongside options for lowering these costs for consumers.

Alongside this, the Chancellor is expected to publish a consultation on Permitted Development Rights to make it easier and cheaper for people without a driveway to charge. This will help households without driveways to switch to cleaner vehicles and access reliable charging at and closer to home. This is on top of the £25m scheme announced in July to support local authorities to provide discreet cross-pavement channel charging solutions for residents, so more people without driveways can charge at home.

The EV bonus plans have been broadly welcomed, although some questioned the wisdom of electric car support measures when the Government is also expected to announce a new EV road user charge. And The Telegraph said Reeves had been accused of “madness” over the EV “handout” amid possible plans to raise fuel duty.

The AA greeted the extra £1.3bn for the Electric Car Grant, which launched in July and has helped over 35,000 drivers make the switch to an EV through cutting upfront costs by up to £3,750.

Edmund King, AA president, said: “The AA UK EV Readiness Index stands at 47.5 out of 100, which indicates that factors such as the cost of new EVs are putting off some potential electric vehicle drivers. The grant has helped some 35,000 drivers already.

“We are also pleased to see efforts to speed up the role out of chargers and a commitment to look at public charging costs,” he added. “The initiatives to boost EV take-up are going in the right direction but we just hope that speculation about EV ‘pay as you go’ doesn’t stall this progress. Drivers accept that EV owners should pay their way but the timing of current speculation about a scheme that may be introduced in three years isn’t really helping.

“Ultimately, we probably need a fundamental review of all motoring taxation to set it on a fair basis that doesn’t discriminate against rural and disabled drivers.”

The Government said the extra £1.3bn for the Electric Car Grant in the Budget would slash prices for consumers, boost growth in the sector and support the transition to zero-emission vehicles.

A spokesperson said: “The Government is fully committed to the transition to electric vehicles, which is key to meeting our net zero goals and will drive growth and productivity across the UK.”